Post by Marty Da Hungry Wolf on Sept 1, 2013 16:21:52 GMT -5
Want to try to give myself time to digest the games a bit this season before I post.
My initial gut reaction was to call this a 'C+', then I saw the Alabama - VT game and despite Alabama pretty much calling their shot except for VT's #14 going from Stone Mountain to the end zone on one run, Alabama was getting (no pun intended) rolled by the talking heads last night. They lost a TON to the draft, and came out and played pretty much like Alabama with mostly new kids.
So, after giving it some thought, I wanted to break the Pack's opening performance down like this:
Pack O: B
Pack D: B -
Pack ST: A -
Pack Coaching: B+
Pack Crowd: C + (mid 4th quarter and the field house end was a ghost town from what I saw on TV)
The offense started off well enough, I was very impressed with Brandon Mitchell in what little time he was able to play, very sorry to hear of his broken foot. Hopefully surgery did (or will) go well, don't want him back until he's healed. Thought Pete Thomas did O.K., a little too much gambling with intermediate passes that will get picked off by better defenses, that can be corrected, his passing percentage was hurt by throw-aways but that's better than an INT. Creecy was what I've come to expect: smart, hard-running, protects the ball, productive. I'd heard about Matt Dayes, ecstatic about over 5 yds/carry and 3 TD's in his first game. In my opinion, Thornton should come back as 3rd string, neither of the first two did anything bad all game. I was thinking Mitchell was taking a few too many hits too early by running the ball as much as he was, I don't think that had anything to do with the broken foot, that could've just as easily happened on the first hit, but the QB apparently totes a lot of mail in Coach Doeren's offense.
Defense did great turning LA Tech over as much as they did, but the tackling needs to improve immensely before Clemson comes to town (great game between Clemson and UGA last night, by the way). Clemson has more, faster, bigger, and stronger backs and linemen than LA Tech and if State doesn't improve technique they'll get dismantled (which may happen anyway, but ...). I was very happy with the D-line play as a whole, and team pursuit did bottle up some potential good gains.
Special teams did well enough, Sade's kickoffs are deep, don't recall them running back more than one or two, and he missed no placekicks, Bauman did a good job punting. Kick coverage was good throughout, in my opinion.
Coaches appeared to have the team prepared and enthusiastic on a hot day, I'm not a big fan viewer of "schemes" (i.e., I'm not a frustrated ex-rec league player who still talks about the good old days 30 years ago, but I digress), but for the most part the players on both sides of the ball looked like they were in the right positions and ready to go.
Crowd was into it pretty good thru the first half while the game was still in doubt, they emptied out a bit soon but I know it was hot out. Actually - Really? 12:30 kickoff in Raleigh? In August? Hmmmm ......
Overall grade: B
My initial gut reaction was to call this a 'C+', then I saw the Alabama - VT game and despite Alabama pretty much calling their shot except for VT's #14 going from Stone Mountain to the end zone on one run, Alabama was getting (no pun intended) rolled by the talking heads last night. They lost a TON to the draft, and came out and played pretty much like Alabama with mostly new kids.
So, after giving it some thought, I wanted to break the Pack's opening performance down like this:
Pack O: B
Pack D: B -
Pack ST: A -
Pack Coaching: B+
Pack Crowd: C + (mid 4th quarter and the field house end was a ghost town from what I saw on TV)
The offense started off well enough, I was very impressed with Brandon Mitchell in what little time he was able to play, very sorry to hear of his broken foot. Hopefully surgery did (or will) go well, don't want him back until he's healed. Thought Pete Thomas did O.K., a little too much gambling with intermediate passes that will get picked off by better defenses, that can be corrected, his passing percentage was hurt by throw-aways but that's better than an INT. Creecy was what I've come to expect: smart, hard-running, protects the ball, productive. I'd heard about Matt Dayes, ecstatic about over 5 yds/carry and 3 TD's in his first game. In my opinion, Thornton should come back as 3rd string, neither of the first two did anything bad all game. I was thinking Mitchell was taking a few too many hits too early by running the ball as much as he was, I don't think that had anything to do with the broken foot, that could've just as easily happened on the first hit, but the QB apparently totes a lot of mail in Coach Doeren's offense.
Defense did great turning LA Tech over as much as they did, but the tackling needs to improve immensely before Clemson comes to town (great game between Clemson and UGA last night, by the way). Clemson has more, faster, bigger, and stronger backs and linemen than LA Tech and if State doesn't improve technique they'll get dismantled (which may happen anyway, but ...). I was very happy with the D-line play as a whole, and team pursuit did bottle up some potential good gains.
Special teams did well enough, Sade's kickoffs are deep, don't recall them running back more than one or two, and he missed no placekicks, Bauman did a good job punting. Kick coverage was good throughout, in my opinion.
Coaches appeared to have the team prepared and enthusiastic on a hot day, I'm not a big fan viewer of "schemes" (i.e., I'm not a frustrated ex-rec league player who still talks about the good old days 30 years ago, but I digress), but for the most part the players on both sides of the ball looked like they were in the right positions and ready to go.
Crowd was into it pretty good thru the first half while the game was still in doubt, they emptied out a bit soon but I know it was hot out. Actually - Really? 12:30 kickoff in Raleigh? In August? Hmmmm ......
Overall grade: B
